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Greetings
from the city of Palm-tree Cape !
The
gateway of Sulawesi is the historic port of
UjungPandang.
Formerly known as Makassar,
UjungPandang is one of the
few Indonesia cities to embrace the sea. The focus of the town is
a long esplanade curling along the bay, with
swaying palms, wide sidewalks and colourful
shophouses, their second-storey terraces offering
a commanding view of the beach, bay and tropical sunsets. While
this growing city has sprawled into the surrounding
hills during recent decades, commercial and social activity remains
centered within a few blocks of the waterfront. In the late
afternoon and early evening hours most
of the population seems to gather along the esplanade,
strolling and chatting, snacking at any of the scores of teashops
and roving food stalls, or simply enjoying the fresh sea breeze as the
setting sun touches the horizon, silhouetting the masts
and
billowing sails of the schooners cruising the bay.
In
modern Indonesia, Ujung Pandang has become the primary port and airline
hub of the eastern archipelago, the thousands of remote islands being developed
and incorprated into the mainstream of Indonesian society and economy.
As in previous centuries, when Makassar was the commercial heart of Southeast
Asian Trade, Indonesians, other Asians and Europeans rub shoulder in the
narrow alleys and jostle in the shops and markets. A trained ear will pick
out dozens of languages on the streets, and a casual browse through the
shops on Jalan Somba Opu will reveal goods, handicrafts and antiques
from all corners of the archipelago. More than any other Indonesian city,
Ujung Pandang evokes the great age of maritime discovery, trade and adventure.
Much
of that history is on display in Fort Rotterdam, for centuries a
stronghold of Dutch power in the East Indies. The massive walls and battlements
now guard a well-run museum and cultural centre in a collection of fine
17th and 18th century buildings. The
La Galigo Museum houses an extensive collection of ethnographic displays
in the great halls which once held cargoes of spices and other goods bound
for Europe.
At
several places alongthe waterfront, traditional Bugis and Makassar sailing
craft are tied up, unloading catches or taking on cargoes fo lumber, rubber
or dried fish bound for Java. As in the days of Joseph Conrad, who set
several scenes from his early novels in Makassar, all the work in
done by manual labor. Longshoremen
confidently carry heavy loads along narrow gangplanks to waiting trucks
while peddlers in small dugouts paddle around the great cargo hulls, offering
food and necessary goods to the crews. A walk through the adjacent fish
markets will display the enormous variety of sea life in these waters,
from large swordfish and tuna to the tiny anchovy, dried and used
as a condiment or snack.
With such a martime bounty within easy reach, virtually anyone in Ujung Pandang with access to a work or charcoal grill can produce exceptional seafood fare. Both hotel chefs and dockside cooks rely on the absolute freshness and quality of the ingredients and critically controlled cooking times to produce memorable grilled fish, curried crab and on the seafood dishes.
MAKASSAR
OIL :
An oil extracted from the nuts of the bado tree became a popular hair
pomade in 19th century Europe. So many gentlemen used Makassar
oil to produce the highly desirable sheen, and to keep hair in place in
an
era of widespread walking and open carriages, that many poeple protected
the backs of upholstered chairs with a lace doily, an antimakassar.
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